Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Responding to Robodebt) Bill

The short answer

Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Responding to Robodebt) Bill

The Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Responding to Robodebt) Bill 2025 is a private member's bill introduced by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Tas) in the House of Representatives on 25 August 2025. It would amend four Commonwealth Acts — the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999, the Social Security Act 1991, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 and the Student Assistance Act 1973 — to give legislative effect to outstanding recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme. Its measures include statutory waiver rules for debts caused solely by Commonwealth administrative error, explicit family-violence waiver coverage, a six-year limit on social security debt recovery, human oversight of certain automated decisions, and extended crisis-payment claim windows. As at the 13 September 2026 source check the Wilkie bill remains before the House of Representatives: introduced and read a first time on 25 August 2025, second reading moved, no vote, not passed and not law. A separate private senator's bill with the same short title and a "[No. 2]" suffix, sponsored by Senator Penny Allman-Payne, is recorded in the Senate as before the Senate. This update was recorded as a source_presence change; it is not a change of parliamentary stage for the Wilkie bill.

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Evidence review

Chamber-record cross-check for this update

This update was triggered because the bill stopped appearing in the daily selection feed's current snapshot (recorded as a source_presence change). A bill leaving a list is only a prompt to re-check the official record; it is not evidence that the bill passed, was withdrawn, lapsed or became law. The bill page and the current Bills before Parliament list were re-opened on 13 September 2026.

The official record re-checked on 13 September 2026 shows the Wilkie bill as a private member's bill originating in the House of Representatives, introduced and read a first time on 25 August 2025, with the second reading moved and the bill listed as before the House. There is no record of second reading debate to a vote, no committee referral, no passage in either chamber, no Royal Assent and no Act number, and no record of withdrawal or discharge.

One related record is worth flagging so readers are not misled by search results. A separate private senator's bill carrying the same short title with a "[No. 2]" suffix — Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Responding to Robodebt) Bill 2025 [No. 2], sponsored by Senator Penny Allman-Payne — is recorded on the Senate side as before the Senate, dated 26 August 2025. That is a different bill from the Wilkie bill, introduced in the other chamber. Neither bill is law as at the check date, and neither has passed either chamber.

Evidence review

What the bill proposes

The bill is a direct legislative response to the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, which delivered its final report on 7 July 2023. The Commission, led by Commissioner Catherine Holmes AC SC, made 57 recommendations, finding that the scheme was "crude and cruel" and had caused widespread harm. The bill's stated aim is to implement outstanding recommendations that require legislative change.

Its key provisions as described in the explanatory memorandum include: establishing a statutory requirement that income-averaging-based debts be waived unless there is independent evidence the person actually incurred the debt; broadening special-circumstances waiver provisions to expressly cover family and domestic violence; inserting a six-year limitation period on the recovery of social security debts; requiring notification and human oversight of certain automated decisions; and extending crisis-payment claim windows.

The bill is a private member's bill, not a government bill. The government has implemented some Royal Commission recommendations administratively — including abolishing income averaging for debt calculation and establishing an integrity framework within Services Australia — but has not introduced its own comprehensive legislative package covering the same ground.

Evidence review

Debt waivers for administrative errors and family violence

The bill would remove existing limiting conditions on debt waivers where a debt was caused solely by Commonwealth administrative error. Under current law in each of the four acts, a debt attributable solely to administrative error can be waived only if the recipient received the payments in good faith and the debt was not raised within six weeks of the payment being made. The bill would strip out those conditions, requiring the Secretary to waive a debt that was the sole result of administrative error. This is intended to give partial effect to Royal Commission recommendation 18.1, which called for fair, proportionate and equitable debt recovery or non-recovery without legislative barriers.

The bill would also amend the special-circumstances waiver provisions in all four Acts to expressly cover family and domestic violence, with a note specifying that the provisions cover acting under duress or under the influence of family or domestic violence. The design is to allow debts to be waived where a person knowingly but unwillingly provided incorrect information under coercive control, or where a perpetrator of family violence knowingly provided false information causing an overpayment. This measure also gives partial effect to recommendation 18.1.

Evidence review

Six-year time limit on debt recovery

The bill proposes to insert a new provision into the Social Security Act 1991 establishing that social security debts cannot be recovered more than six years after the debt first became due and payable. The limitation period would apply to debts arising under the Social Security Act, the Family Assistance Act and the Student Assistance Act.

The six-year limit reflects a Royal Commission concern that Centrelink pursued debts dating back many years, in some cases more than a decade, based on income averaging calculations later found to be unlawful. The absence of a statutory limitation period for social security debts is unusual: most civil debts are subject to limitation periods under state and territory legislation, but the Commonwealth is not bound by state limitation statutes. The bill's six-year period aligns with the standard limitation period for contract and tort claims in most Australian jurisdictions.

Evidence review

Human oversight of automated decisions

Two new obligations would be imposed on Services Australia. First, recipients affected by an automated decision must be notified that the decision was automated and told of their options for seeking further information or review. Second, certain high-impact automated decisions would require human oversight before taking effect — including cancellation of a payment or benefit, raising a debt of $2,000 or more, exercising a discretion, reviewing a decision, and initiating a garnishee arrangement with the Australian Taxation Office.

These measures respond to Royal Commission recommendation 17.1 on the need for a consistent and compassionate framework for automated decision-making.

Evidence review

Crisis payments and other measures

The bill would extend the timeframe for claiming crisis payments from 7 days to 14 days across four categories: release from gaol or psychiatric confinement, extreme circumstances forcing departure from home, remaining in a home after a family member leaves due to family violence, and arrival on a qualifying humanitarian visa. It would also insert principles of good administration into each Act, establish positive duties for the Secretary drawn from recommendation 10.1, require annual review of compliance activities with parliamentary tabling, and require the Secretary to have regard to the needs of people in rural, regional and remote areas.

Evidence review

The bill's legislative status

The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on 25 August 2025 by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie. The second reading was moved on introduction and debate was adjourned. As at 13 September 2026 the bill remains before the House of Representatives with no vote on the second reading.

As a private member's bill its progress depends on the government allocating House time for private members' business and on the government's disposition toward it. For it to become law it would need to pass the House and the Senate and receive Royal Assent. The government has implemented some Robodebt Royal Commission recommendations administratively, but whether it will introduce its own legislative response or support Mr Wilkie's bill has not been determined.

Common questions

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